Includes bibliographical references (pages 535-541) and index

Elder and younger. -- Cambridge and the world. -- Ambition on schedule. -- Brilliant beginnings. -- Death of two governments. -- The youngest Chancellor. -- Brief exuberance. -- From plotter to Prime Minister. -- The struggle for supremacy. -- Power and its limits. -- Private by nature. -- Spreading his wings. -- Insanity and crisis. -- Trials of strength. -- The cautious crusader. -- The view from the precipice. -- A tutorial in war. -- Frustrations of supremacy. -- Insurmountable obstacles. -- Breaking point. -- Caution to the winds. -- The dashing of hope. -- Resignation with hesitation. -- The limits of magnanimity. -- The old addiction. -- Back, but never the same. -- Too many enemies. -- "How I leave my country."

"William Pitt the Younger is a biography of one of the great iconic figures in British history: the man who in 1784 at the age of twenty-four became (and so remains) the youngest Prime Minister in the history of England. In this authoritative study, William Hague explains the dramatic events and exceptional abilities that allowed extreme youth to be combined with great power." "The brilliant son of a father who was also Prime Minister, Pitt was derided as a "schoolboy" when he took office. Yet within months he had outwitted his opponents, and he went on to dominate the political scene for twenty-two years (nineteen of them as Prime Minister). No British politician since has exercised such supremacy for so long."

"With its rich cast of characters, including Charles James Fox, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Edmund Burke, and George III himself, and set against a backdrop of industrial revolution and global conflict, this is a detailed and rounded portrait of an extraordinary political life."--Jacket

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